Remittance inflow falls 12pc in Nov

Siddique Islam The flow of inward remittances fell by nearly 12 per cent last month (November) over the previous one, following the celebration of Eid-ul-Azha festival, officials said Monday. The Bangladesh nationals working abroad sent US$ 915.45 million in November 2011. The amount was lower by $124.03 million than the level of remittance receipts in the previous month. In October, the remittance inflows stood at $1039.48 million, according to the central bank statistics. "Most remittance inflows came in the month of October from the expatriates to their families to facilitate celebration of the Eid festival. So, the inflow of remittance receipts decreased slightly in November last," a senior official at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE. He also expects that the inflow of remittances will pick up this month. The country received $4.93 billion as remittance earnings during July-November period of the current fiscal year, registering a 7.56 per cent growth over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, the BB data showed. The country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $9.20 billion Monday, following a nominal growth of remittance from the Bangladeshis working abroad, another BB official said. "Our foreign exchange reserve has been facing pressure mainly due to a slower pace of remittance inflow and higher import payments, particularly for fuel oils," the central bank official said. He also said the central bank has been providing foreign currency support continuously through sales of the US currency directly to the commercial banks for settlement of their outstanding import letters of credit (LCs). This has been exerting some pressure on the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserve, he said. As part of the operation, the BB sold $40 million Monday to three state-run commercial banks (SCBs) directly to meet their growing demand for the greenback. "We've sold the foreign currency to the SCBs at market rate to settle outstanding letters of credit (LCs) against imports of petroleum products," the BB official said. The US dollar was quoted at Tk 77.14-Tk 77.20 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 77.01-Tk 77.10 of the previous working day, according to the central bank statistics. The BB earlier took a series of measures to encourage the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned money through formal banking channel, instead of the illegal "hundi" system, to help boost the country's foreign exchange reserves. Most private commercial banks (PCBs), along with the state-owned ones, are also making utmost endeavours to increase the flow of inward remittances from the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Italy and the United States. "We're trying to increase the inflow of remittances continuously from different parts of the world through establishing new contacts with overseas companies," a senior official of a leading PCB said. He also said most banks were still serious about increasing remittance inflows through official channels to meet their own foreign exchange demand.